That's What Family's For
by Kayar
Summary: Sydney has to deal with various family members in her attempt to uncover the truth...
1. Chapter One

Title: That's What Family's For

Author: Kayar

Disclaimer: Alias and its characters are not mine. It belongs to ABC, Bad Robot Productions, and a genius by the name of J.J. Abrams.

Our story picks up right where the Season 3 finale leaves off…

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Sydney blinked back tears as she stared up at her father. Jack slowly walked over to the table and took his seat across from her.

"Sydney…" Jack began, pausing to search for the right words. "Sydney, I need to explain…" Sydney glared at her father but said nothing. "You never were supposed to have found these documents. I hid them here years ago because I wanted to protect you."

"Protect me how?" Sydney asked in a wavering voice. "You've been manipulating me my entire life and now you say you were _protecting_ me?" She gestured to the documents. "You had my whole life planned out, didn't you? You _wanted_ me to be recruited by SD-6, to become a double agent, to be captured by the Covenant…" Sydney trailed off, unable to say any more.

"Sydney…" Jack began again, but Sydney had already stood and was walking toward the door.

"Don't," she warned, and resolutely marched out, leaving Jack to stare blankly at the papers spread out in front of him.

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Two weeks later, Sydney sat in her apartment, idly flipping through her copy of _Alice in Wonderland_. She was hoping that if she sat at home and did absolutely nothing, it lessened her chances of being in a situation where her father was controlling her. The shrill ring of her telephone snapped her out of her reverie. She briefly considered letting the answering machine pick up in case it was her father calling, but eventually decided to pick it up. It would have more of an effect if she hung up on him, anyway.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Syd."

"Hey!" Sydney couldn't help but grin at the sound of Vaughn's voice. The last time she had seen him was at the debrief of their Palermo mission. Dixon wasn't happy that they had gone on an unsanctioned mission, but he was pleased that they had discovered the location of the Rambaldi artifact.

"Are you doing anything important right now?" Vaughn asked.

"No. Why?"

"Well, I was driving around, and there's this new coffee shop downtown. I didn't know if you'd be interested in having coffee with me today."

"Sure! I'd love to," Sydney said. "What time?"

"Actually," Vaughn replied, and Sydney could almost hear him smiling, "I'm outside you're apartment right now. So whenever you're ready?"

"Okay," Sydney smiled, surprised but pleased. "Let me get ready, and I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Can't wait," Vaughn said. "See you then."

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"So I talked to Weiss," Vaughn was saying. "He told me they found your sister yesterday."

Sydney looked up from her coffee. "Really?" Nadia had been missing for over two weeks, and Weiss' team had been having a hard time finding any leads. "Where?"

"The team found her near Istanbul. She told us that Sloane kidnapped her in order to find the Rambaldi artifact. She was too upset to say much else, but Dixon was hoping you could stop by the safe house and talk to her."

"Of course I will," Sydney said. "Do you know where she's staying?"

Vaughn shook his head. "I have no idea. Since her first safe house was compromised, Dixon's disclosing her location on a need-to-know basis."

Sydney began to reply, but the beeping of her pager cut her off. A split second later, Vaughn's pager went off as well. Both checked the name and number, then looked at each other resignedly.

"Dixon?"

"Yeah."

"I guess we should go," Vaughn said as he reached for his wallet to pay for the coffee.

"Just as long as my father isn't there," Sydney muttered darkly.

Vaughn glanced up sharply. Sydney had told him about what she had found in Wittenburg. "You don't have to go if you don't want to."

"No, it's okay. I'll be fine." Sydney tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace. "It just makes me sick that he would do something like that to me."

Vaughn looked concerned. "You sure you're gonna be okay?"

Sydney forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."

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A/N: Did you like it? Did you hate it? Was it just okay? Please review and let me know what you think!

Kristin


	2. Chapter Two

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Sorry it's been so long. To be honest, I had forgotten that I had even posted on this site. I'm actually much farther ahead on this story than it may seem. If you want to read all that I have so far, it's all at the SD-1 boards under "Post-Resurrection Fics." But hopefully I'll get the rest of it up here soon, just in case you like this format better.

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Chapter 2

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Since the bombing of the JTF building left the CIA without its normal facilities, Dixon had called for the meeting in the self-storage facility that Sydney and Vaughn had used when she was a double agent for the CIA. Dixon was insistent that a setback like the destruction of their largest operations center wouldn't hinder their work. Sydney and Vaughn walked to the back of the building, where an old table and some folding chairs had been set up as a makeshift conference room. Dixon, Jack, and Marshall were already present. Marshall had recovered well from his surgery and was apparently ready to start work already. Sydney walked over and gave Marshall a hug, but she avoided her father's eyes as she sat down.

"We've received intel on the possible location of a Covenant front company," Dixon reported. "The building is a bank that handles the accounts of many known Covenant leaders. Sydney, Vaughn, your mission is to infiltrate the building and obtain as much information as possible on what is going on in there. Once we have proof that the Covenant is indeed working there, we can plan our next move." Dixon looked over to Sydney and Vaughn. "We believe this information will help reveal the locations of Sloane and Lauren." Sydney and Vaughn glanced at each other uncomfortably. Neither had revealed to Dixon that Lauren was dead.

Marshall piped up. "The bank monitors frequencies very carefully, so closely that they can detect even the faintest transmission, you know, to the point that a microwave oven could set it off. Meaning that you won't be able to pop popcorn on your mission…" he paused for laughs, but only got a polite smile from Sydney and impatient looks from the others. He took a breath and continued. "Actually, what it really means is that you're not going to be able to use comms or uplinks during the actual mission. So you guys are gonna be on your own."

"Since the bank is located just outside of L.A., there is no need to immediately uplink the data to us. You will simply download the information and immediately report back here," Jack continued.

"Of course, I can provide you with transmitters to uplink the data in case of an emergency, like if there is evidence of a security system that will wipe the info from your disk, or if you're compromised or something," Marshall said. "Not that you'll be compromised or anything, but just so you can be prepared…Oh, by the way, Syd," he added, turning towards Sydney, "I just wanted to say thank you for helping Carrie and babysitting Mitch while I was in the hospital."

Sydney smiled. "It was the least I could do."

"Well, I just wanted to thank you. And Carrie says thanks, too. And if Mitch could talk, I'm sure he would thank you…"

"Marshall will get you the op tech you need to get into the computer servers and download the intel," Dixon interrupted. "You can head out as soon as you're ready. Good luck."

After the others filed out of the room, Sydney stepped forward to talk to Dixon.

"Dixon, where did we get the intel for this mission?"

Dixon looked up from shuffling some papers. "One of your father's contacts."

"And who drew up the specs for the mission?"

"Your father." Dixon noticed the concerned look on Sydney's face. "Why?"

"I don't want to be a part of this mission." Sydney realized she sounded like a bratty child, but she did not want to risk being manipulated by her father anymore.

Dixon sighed. "Syd, we need you on this mission. With Vaughn recovering from his injury, we need someone to go with him in case something should go wrong."

"Couldn't you send Weiss?" Sydney pressed.

Dixon gave Sydney a weary look. "Weiss is sleeping off jet lag from his last mission. I gave Vaughn this mission since it's local and relatively low-risk. But to be safe, we need to send someone with him. And you're the best person for that job."

Sydney nodded in reply, and quietly walked out of the self-storage facility. Jack was outside waiting for her.

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	3. Chapter Three

A/N: To answer some reviewers' questions, yes, I am a S/V shipper, but the 'ship will not be the primary focus of this fic. The coffee date last chapter is all you're gonna get for awhile, although there should be some more touches of S/V later on.But not to worry, I don't plan on wandering into Sarkney or Sweiss territory at all.

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Chapter 2

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"Sydney, we need to talk."

"No, we don't." Sydney kept walking. She could see her father following her closely. She sped up her pace, but she knew she wasn't going to lose him.

"Sydney, you need to understand the full story."

She stopped and turned around to face him. "Fine," she snapped. "You have two minutes."

"Thirty years ago, I was chosen to head up a new CIA project. That project, S.A.B. 47, was a precursor to Project Christmas. I chose you as the prototype—"

"Is that all I am to you? A prototype?" Sydney shook her head in disbelief.

"I chose you because I wanted to protect you," Jack continued. "I had been having suspicions about your mother at the time, and I wanted you to be safe. This project was a way for me to know you were safe while shielding you from the truth."

"I guess that's one way to phrase manipulation and lying to your daughter's face," Sydney said bitterly.

Jack ignored Sydney's comment. "Part of the project involved monitoring you for your entire life. The knowledge that the CIA was always watching you made sure that nothing would happen to you without our knowledge."

"So you and the CIA _planned_ for me to be recruited into SD-6, then you chose the best time to tell me the truth about SD-6?" Sydney couldn't believe what she was hearing. "And what about our takedown of the Alliance? Did the CIA know the exact time and date of when we would destroy SD-6?"

Jack shook his head. "No, we had no idea when we would be able to destroy the Alliance. We believe that was part of Sloane's plan."

"Has there been any time in my life where I _wasn't_ being used by someone else?" Sydney didn't wait for an answer, too afraid of what she might hear. "I have to go," she said, walking away. To her surprise, Jack didn't follow her.

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After getting the information from Dixon, Sydney drove to the safe house where her sister was staying. Inside, Sydney briefly greeted the agents on guard and gently knocked on the door to Nadia's room.

"Come in."

Sydney walked in, relieved to see that her sister appeared unharmed. "Hey. How are you?"

"I'm okay. Better, now that I'm safe." Nadia glanced around the room, like she expected someone to be hiding in the shadows. "At least, relatively safe."

"You're safe, I promise," Sydney said. "Sloane will not be able to harm you here."

Nadia smiled wryly and looked up at her sister. "I've heard that before."

Sydney looked away, embarrassed that she had failed to keep her sister safe. "We've taken steps to ensure your safety while you're staying here." Nadia nodded but said nothing. Sydney decided to change the subject. "Can you tell me what happened when Sloane abducted you?"

"He broke into my room through the window. Before I could do anything, he shot me with a tranquilizer. When I woke up, we were on a plane. Sloane asked me for the location of the Rambaldi artifact. When I refused to tell him, he injected me with sodium pentothal. Under the effects of the drug, I told him the artifact was in Istanbul."

"Wait," Sydney interrupted. "The Rambaldi artifact is in Palermo. That's the location that we got from the equation."

"Yes, but I changed the equation. I didn't want to give Sloane the correct location, but I eventually gave it up anyway." Nadia looked down sadly.

"But why didn't you give the CIA the correct location?" Sydney asked.

"I wasn't sure I could trust the CIA at that point," Nadia said simply.

Sydney nodded. It was a valid reason. "Then what happened?"

"We flew to Istanbul. Sloane had hired an excavation team, and they were already working when we got there. It took them a little over a week to find the artifact. Around the same time, we began to hear rumors that CIA agents were in the area. Sloane guessed that they were looking for him, so he took the Rambaldi artifact and left, leaving me in Istanbul. The team found me a couple days later. And now, here I am."

Sydney gave Nadia a reassuring smile. "We're doing our best to apprehend Sloane. In fact," she added, "I'm leaving for a mission tonight that may help us find his location." Sydney stood, getting ready to leave. "Is there anything else you know that could help us?"

Nadia shook her head, so Sydney began to walk towards the door. "Actually, Sydney," Nadia called out. Sydney turned around to face her sister. Nadia looked conflicted for a moment, like she was deciding whether to say something. A second later, the look was gone, and Nadia shook her head and smiled sadly. "Nothing," she said. "Good luck on your mission."

Sydney smiled warmly at Nadia. "Thank you."

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